Surveillance reformers gather at Cato - Cyber at a standstill on the Hill - Blackburn to knock FCC

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DRIVING THE DAY: SURVEILLANCE REFORMERS GATHER AT CATO — Most of the major opponents of overbroad government data collection are convening this morning for a day-long pow-wow to take stock of the major NSA revelations of the last few months and focus efforts on how to force changes. Sen. Ron Wyden, along with Reps. Justin Amash and Jim Sensenbrenner will each give keynotes: Watch for Sensenbrenner to pitch his soon-to-be introduced USA Freedom Act, one of the most comprehensive reform bills floated this congress. Amash is expected to address the procedural hurdles that lawmakers face in trying to exercise intelligence oversight. And if past is any indication for Wyden, he’s likely to hint that administration officials still have more to disclose about its surveillance and data collection operations.

--THE REST OF THE LINEUP: The conference will feature a morning panel comprised of surveillance reporters (including WaPo’s Barton Gellman and WSJ’s Siobhan Gorman), and an examination of the tech components of the intel debate (with ACLU’s Chris Soghoian, Matt Blaze, and Tor’s Karen Reilly.) Plus, Google’s David Lieber will be on hand as part of a legal discussion that also features the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer. Things start at 10 — deets and livestream here: http://bit.ly/1bW80aB

CYBER AT A STANDSTILL ON THE HILL — Tony with the story in today’s POLITICO: “For all the bellowing in Washington over Chinese and Iranian cyberspies that are striking at lightning speed, Congress is still stuck slogging at a snail’s pace to offer any solution. ... A year after lawmakers failed to advance meaningful cybersecurity reform — and months after President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to try again — the critical task of fortifying the nation’s digital defenses remains so mired in politics that few now think it even possible this year.”

“The Senate still doesn’t have a major cybersecurity bill. Disagreements continue to separate lawmakers in that chamber and in the House, which earlier this year ignored a presidential veto threat and passed a controversial measure allowing the government and private sector to share cyberthreat data. And those stalemates surfaced long before any NSA leaks from contractor Edward Snowden chilled practically every debate involving U.S. intelligence. ... There’s no compromise to speak of on cybercrime, even as House and Senate Judiciary leaders lament stolen intellectual property and muse whether the FBI has sufficiently prosecuted criminals. Bills focused on trade secret theft — some from key congressional intelligence and armed services-focused committees — have gathered digital dust in the congressional archives.” Catch more from POLITICO’s Tuesday cyber event after the jump, and find Tony’s item here: http://politi.co/1bayFiR

BLACKBURN TO KNOCK FCC’S ‘REGULATORY ADDICTION’ AT TIA 2013 — House E&C vice chair Marsha Blackburn is set to deliver a keynote address at the Telecommunications Industry Association’s 2013 conference today, and the Tennessee Republican isn’t likely to go soft on regulators. Like many in the industry, she’ll call for getting rid of old telecom rules as part of a play to boost competition and innovation. “New communications services are governed by old rules based on outdated assumptions. The result is weak investment, greater uncertainty, fewer consumer choices, and less competition,” she’ll say, according to excerpts shared with MT. “Some say it’s a bold endeavor to overhaul and modernize our laws to rationalize today’s competitive marketplace, but we must be proactive if we want to enhance consumer welfare, remove unnecessary regulations, and beat back special government preferences that force us to look backward instead of forward.”

Blackburn goes on in the 10 a.m. hour, but there’s more policy talk on tap for Day 3 of the week-long conference. NSA Director Keith Alexander and Rep. Anna Eshoo are also slated to appear. Panels later in the day include a meeting of top lobbyists from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, and an IP transition chat moderated by our own Brooks Boliek. Deets here: http://bit.ly/1gozRDd

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning tech, where we’re always happy to play your tech parlor games and make digital small talk. Find us, if you’ve got a tip to share, at abyers@politico.com and @byersalex. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after speed read.

**A message from POWERJobs: New jobs on our radar this week: Researcher at FM3 Research, Cyber Information Assurance Analyst at TASC and Geospatial Data Technician at The Boeing Company. Interested? Apply to these jobs and more at www.POWERJobs.com; finally, a career site made for YOU!**

WHITE HOUSE HOPING FOR I.T. TURNAROUND ON OBAMACARE SITE — Pro Healthcare’s Brett Norman in today’s paper: “A senior Obama administration official said Tuesday that several days of “hardware and software fixes” have put a turnaround in sight for Obamacare’s new enrollment system.

But he gave no timeline for when users should expect a glitch-free experience on the HealthCare.gov website, which has been limping into its second week of technical failures.”

“The administration has shared few details about the underlying technical problems. ... Like other administration officials, David Simas, a White House communications and strategy adviser, maintained that the flaws in HealthCare.gov, the new insurance marketplace for 36 states, have been ‘driven by volume’ — an unexpected surge in online traffic that crippled front-end account creation processes. But he didn’t say what exactly was being done and when things would be fixed.” http://politi.co/GMBCNt

WHAT YOU MISSED AT #CYBER7 — House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul told the packed house at POLITICO’s cybersecurity event yesterday that conflating the Snowden NSA disclosures with the kind of work Hill lawmakers are trying to do on cyber has caused a lot of headaches for policymakers. It’s “an obstacle I have to overcome,” said McCaul, who also bashed the Obama administration for failing to fill high-profile vacancies at the Department of Homeland Security.

Separately, House Intelligence Chairman told attendees that his FISA reform package is likely to be out by the end of the year, though if it doesn’t come until December, that’ll be a bit later than some surveillance-watchers had expected. Some questions still need to be resolved, Rogers said — including a couple of issues on which he and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger don’t agree. But largely, the reforms will be “confidence builders” for the American public, Rogers said. Last, catch your MT-er’s file on Keith Alexander’s concern that the government shutdown is making it harder for Washington to retain talented cyber and intel employees: http://politi.co/15Z59ZQ

EFF FIGHTS GOV’T ATTEMPTS TO PRESS PAUSE ON PHONE RECORDS CASE — The Electronic Frontier Foundation is pushing back against the Department of Justice’s bid to put on hold proceedings in a major lawsuit filed in July over NSA data collection. The suit, in which EFF represents several advocacy organizations outraged by the Section 215 revelations generated by Snowden, is still in its early stages — in fact, one of the deadlines the DOJ seeks to push is simply the due date for defendants to respond to the initial accusations of illegal dragnet surveillance. But the DOJ’s argument that the government shutdown calls for a timeout — which it’s made in other FISA-related cases — doesn’t fly, EFF argues: “If it is essential that the spying continue despite the lack of appropriations, then it is equally essential that the question of whether the spying is lawful also go forward,” the group writes. “The rule of law, and the protection of the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, are every bit as essential to the preservation of American democracy as are the NSA’s spying activities.” The full filing: http://bit.ly/15Z7bJE

USTR BUMPS SAMSUNG IN ITC CASE — WSJ’S Ian Sherr and Brent Kendall: “Samsung Electronics Co. failed to win help from the Obama administration in a closely watched patent battle with Apple Inc. But the potential impact on the South Korean company, and U.S. buyers of its mobile devices, appears to be slight. ... U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman chose not to exercise his power to veto a ban on the import and sale of Samsung devices for violating two Apple patents, saying there was no basis on public-policy grounds for doing so. ... By declining a veto, Mr. Froman rejected Samsung's suggestions that the administration needed to even the score between the two rivals after his unusual move in August to veto an earlier Samsung victory at the ITC.” http://on.wsj.com/15Z909p

IA DROPPING STUDY ON ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PART-TIME WEB BUSINESSES -- Around 6.5 million people work for Internet-based part-time businesses (think web design, artisans, consultants) and earn a collective $800 million in wages, according to a report out later today from the Internet Association. The web fuels about 9 out of 10 part-time businesses, who contribute nearly $150 billion to the nation’s GDP, says the report, conducted by Harris Interactive.

That makes part-time firms an important component to the U.S. economic recovery, the Internet Association argues, because some Americans are still looking for more cash to spend and save. Plus, the businesses help support other industries and sectors, IA says. The group is hosting a Google+ hangout to unveil the report at 1 p.m.

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